Issues plus a little bit of Christmas Advent

Now, before I really start spilling this story and trying to make sense out of something, you need to understand that, while I consider myself to be a religous person, my views of theology tend to come out sounding like....maybe I'm in third grade.  Fourth grade on a good night. 

Okay?
Okay.

So let's talk some Advent, shall we?
The word Advent means "to come." 
And when we talk about the Advent season in our house, we talk about how Advent refers to Jesus coming to earth on Christmas Day. 
We might not do all of the candle lighting in our house to recognize the Advent season, but we do participate in the spirit of Advent.


And we do what just about anyone would do when getting ready for someone to come....we clean up a bit.  Maybe decorate.  Prepare a nice meal.  Get some gifts.  Have a party.  Pour some wine.  Play some music.

So here I am doing all of this outward stuff to celebrate the season, and I have been hit unexpectedly straight on with something that is apparently a HUGE issue for me on the inside.  And I am feeling that voice inside telling me that this Advent season is a good time to tidy up some things I have going on in my heart. 

boy i hate that. 

So here's the deal. 
I've got some pride issues. 
There, I said it. 

I'm not sure exactly how to just let go of it. 
I wish that it was just enough to acknowlede it and POOF....the issue would just disappear.
Or I would never have trouble with it again. 

But it's something I need to work on. 

I have some dear friends who have offered to do something really super and extremely nice for me. 
And I refused to accept it. 
And I am sorry if my refusal came off as being ungrateful. 
I sure didn't mean for it to seem that way. 
It was a Pride thing. 

So this year while the kids and I do some of our little traditions and things that we like to do to prepare and celebrate the birth of Christ, I will remember that there are some inner housekeeping things that I gotta work on to get my heart in better shape as well. 

***************************************************

So what do you do to celebrate Advent?

Do you do the Advent wreath? 
Do you have an Advent calendar?
Do you give little gifts in the stockings before Christmas?


When my kiddos were little, we used to do a "Kiss for a Kiss" countdown to Christmas. 
They would stretch out colorful plastic wrap and line up 25 candy kisses.  Wrap them all up and tie a peice of curling ribbon in between each one.  Then they would hang their string of kissis up and each day we would trade a "kiss for a kiss." 

Fun memories. 
I think I'm going to the store to buy some candy now. 

A Little Thanksgiving

Spent thanksgiving with the Grunder side this year. 
(my kids were at their dad's)

Got lots and lots to be thankful for this year.

Family: Oh my, where do I even start? So thankful to have such a great family.  And friends that are like family.  Awesomeness. 

Friends: You are so amazing.
Work:  A good job.  Good boss.  Flexibility. 
Writing:  Have built a foundation for doing online writing.  And building on previous experience of writing for print.  Another good thing. 
Dreams:  Still there.  And I'm getting braver about sharing them.  And living them. 
Community:  The feeling of being at home in my surroundings.  Good. 
Faith:  Has totally carried me through this year.  In a way that has been different from any other year.  I'm a stonger person than I was a year ago. 

Other random things I'm thankful for:
My cat.
Bottle of wine. 
Awesome neighbors!
Homemade pizza.
Cheese.
Tires that are not quite flat. (please don't be flat today. please don't be flat today)
The teachers at school.
The Olive Garden.
Calvary Church.
Debbie.
Scrapbooking stickers.
A big beer and the ultimate trio at Applebees.
Highlights in my hair.
Lipgloss.
Jr. High Sports.
Big Cozy Blankets.
Sweatpants.
My camera.


I really could go on and on. 
And on. 

But I'll stop. 
For now. 

Christmas ADVENTures

We all know that Jesus is the reason for the season, right?

But I cannot tell you how many times that I have heard some variation of a phrase that goes something like this:
Kids don't care about that.
Kids know...but they don't know.
The kids know this....but they only care about the gifts and the parties and Santa.

So is it enough to read the Christmas story and sing some O Holy Night Christmas songs and think that, as parents, we are passing on a legacy of what the true meaning of celebrating Christmas is?
All the while, we are getting caught up in the shopping, baking, partying, Santa stuff, etc.?

Is Jesus in any of that, or are we all caught up in the commercialization of Christmas rather than the true meaning of Christmas? 

I'm going out on a limb to say that it is okay to get caught up in it.
To celebrate.
To shop.
To go to the party.
Decorate the tree.
And yes....even go see Santa.

Because Jesus is there.
He wants to meet us in the celebrations.
He can be found at the mall.
In the gifts.
In the lights on the tree.
In the colors of the season.
And even hiding in the story of Santa
.....and the partridge in a pear tree. 

It's true. 

There is a ton of symbolism in what we may think is the world's commercialization of Christmas....and we don't have to go too far to find Jesus in it all. 

I didn't always realize this.

And I used to get frustrated by all that seemed so worldly about Christmas.

Now I'm all over it.

Because Jesus is coming to the party.

And you are invited too.

Come visit me here as I share some of our Christmas ADVENTures. 

7th Grade Girls Remain Undefeated

I think it is like 7-0 ??
And maybe like 6 -1 for the B team(?)

Numbers really aren't my thing, if you couldn't tell.

Parent Day

Thankful for these girls.
Thankful for parent day at school. 
Tookie in 3rd Grade

Claire in 4th

Love this guy

Celebrated a birthday on Saturday.
So thankful for another year....

2 Birds + 1 Stone = Good Math

Math, social studies, home economics....it's all acedemic.

Last night I got to stand back and supervise Claire Bear mix up some made-from-scratch blueberry muffins.....for a social studies project.  And it just so happens that today is her snack day. 

I love it when one project can serve two purposes. 

Tookie

Just Because.
She's beautiful.
and I love her.

Neighbors....

I'm not a professional.
But I'm not that bad!

I did a little photo shoot for my neighbors.
I took tons of photos.
And some of them are what I like to call "WALL WORTHY"
Most are what I like to call "PHOTO BOOK WORTHY"
And some are just for fun....
....because who doesn't like fun?

....I like fun.


Want me to take some photos for you? 
I can.

I'll give it my best shot to get you some "wall worthy," "photo-book-worthy"....and the fun ones too.!

7th Grade Girls Basketball vs. Wilton

I think I will let the scoreboard speak for itself.....

Here's Brinny taking a shot.

And Marz getting after the ball.

There is alot I could say about these two games. 

Like I haven't had this much fun watching girls basketball in a long time.

Or tonight how Marz kept saying how much fun she had playing.

And how I usually don't like to let the scoreboard determine whether it was a good game or not...

....but tonight, it's sort of a significant indicator of just how good the game did go!

Loved this....resonated with me today when I read it.

"It's never too late to make a comeback."
~Christina Katz in her newsletter, The Prosperous Writer

Yahoo....My article was picked up by Yahoo! News....

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2 Days Off; 100 Behind

We were so busy this weekend with ball tournaments, church and halloween stuff, that I had no time to do any laundry.

Just TWO days.
Of skipping the laundry.

And now I am about 100 loads behind in it.

How does laundry multiply like that?

I never have been good with  numbers and math equations.